{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O99362"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O99362/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AH3518/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AH3518/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AH3518","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AH3460","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O99362/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O99362","accessionNumber":"C.313-1909","objectType":"Vase","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Situated to the south of Paris, Mennecy was no more than a village when in 1749  François Barbin and his wife bought a piece of land there in order to establish a  porcelain factory.  Barbin had spent many years trying to perfect his porcelain production.  He was recorded in Paris conducting experiments in the rue de  Charonne in the late 1720s and set up a small faïence and earthenware factory  under the protection of the duc de Villeroy in the grounds of the château of  Villeroy in the 1730s.  In 1741 a new royal porcelain factory was established at  Vincennes and given a monopoly to produce painted and gilded porcelain.  Two royal decrees issued in 1748 and 1749 effectively put a stop to production at  Villeroy, a development which prompted the Barbins' move to Mennecy.  The new establishment still operated under the protection of the duc de Villeroy and many of the factory's products bear the impressed or painted mark 'DV' for Duché de  Villeroy.\r\n\r\nBarbin's son, Jean-Baptiste took over the direction of the factory in 1762, but unfortunately he died only a few weeks after his father in 1765, deeply in debt.   Production continued however, as the factory was leased from Barbin's widow by Joseph Jullien and Symphorien Jacques of the nearby porcelain factory at Sceaux.   After the lease expired in 1773 the factory closed and Jullien and Jacques  transferred production to Bourg-la-Reine.\r\n\r\nThe porcelain made at Mennecy is soft-paste and lacks the hard white body of  true porcelains made in Asia and at Meissen.  The colouring is subtle and  characterised by a good range of pink tones and other colours which were used to great effect in the flower painting found on many wares.  As well as tea wares, a wide range of items was made by the factory.  Snuff and patch boxes were a particular speciality, but also different types of table decorations.  In the eighteenth century porcelain figures and vases replaced the earlier sugar sculptures as decorations on high class tables.  This miniature vase would have been one in an arrangement filled with flowers, either fresh or also made of porcelain, ornamenting the centre of a dining table.","physicalDescription":"Vase and pedestal, porcelain, painted with exotic birds, and with details picked out in blue enamel. The two parts held together by screw and nut. The pair to C.312-1909.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Mennecy porcelain factory","id":"A12367"},"association":{"text":"manufacturer","id":"x33306"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"soft paste porcelain","id":"AAT10665"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painted","id":"AAT54216"},{"text":"glazed","id":"AAT53914"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Soft-paste porcelain, painted in enamels","categories":[{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Porcelain","id":"THES48907"},{"text":"Vases","id":"THES48879"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2006AH3518","2006AH3460"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"3","id":"THES263060"},"free":"","case":"CA7","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Vase","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"France","id":"x28849"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1755-ca. 1765","earliest":"1750-01-01","latest":"1769-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"C.312-1909","id":"O99361"},"association":"Set"}],"creditLine":"Given by J. H. Fitzhenry","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"182","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"29.09.12","earliest":"2012-09-29","latest":"2012-09-29"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"110","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"26.09.12","earliest":"2012-09-26","latest":"2012-09-26"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"110","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"26.09.12","earliest":"2012-09-26","latest":"2012-09-26"},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'d D, V' incised","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":"A8728"},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"incised"}],"objectHistory":"The vase shape continued to be made after the factory transferred to Bourg-la-Reine.  See Le Duc, Geneviève, <u><i>Porcelaine tendre de Chantilly au XVIII siècle</i></u>, Editions Hazan, Paris, 1996, 326p. for a pair of c. 1775 in the Musée de l'Île de France, Sceaux, Inv. 91.36. \nFor a biscuit version of the pedestal in the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, see Dawson, 2003, p. 59 (see below).","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Vase and pedestal, porcelain, painted with exotic birds, Mennecy porcelain factory, France, about 1755-1765","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Aileen Dawson, <u>French Porcelain, A Catalogue of The British Museum Collection</u>, British Museum Press, 1994, see cat. no. 58, pp 56-57 for a pair of similar miniature vases on pedestals.  This pair lack the moulded leaf ornament at the corners seen on C.313-1909.  One with similar moulding is cited in footnote 4, 57p. in the Museum of Applied Arts at Saumur, France.  Dawson suggests this is the 'Vase Médicis' referred to in surviving documents."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Nicole Duchon.  <u><i>La manufacture de porcelaine de Mennecy Villeroy</i></u>, Editions Amatteis, Le Mée-sur-Seine, 1988.   A photogaph of the example at Saumur with the leaf-moulded pedestal cited by Dawson is p. 39. "},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Aileen Dawson.  <u>Some Thoughts on Mennecy Biscuit</u>, The French Porcelain Society Journal, Volume 1, 2003.  see figs. 1 and 19 for biscuit examples in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"birds","id":"x35043"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["C.313-1909"],"accessionNumberNum":"313","accessionNumberPrefix":"C","accessionYear":1909,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN1698","2019LW5070"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-12","recordCreationDate":"2004-06-07","availableToBook":false}}